Abstract
This paper deals with the derivation of the convective mixing height and the characteristic convective velocity w * from profiles of Σ w measured by sodar. The parameters were obtained by fitting an analytical profile to the observed data. Results were compared with values obtained by the meteorological preprocessor of a dispersion model and from noon radiosoundings. In addition, a Monte Carlo method was applied to study the influence of measurement errors. It turned out that it is inherently difficult to determine the depth of deep mixed layers from sodar measurements with a limited range, although the determination of w * should be possible. However, a significant underestimation of Σ w , and thus w *, was found, which is probably due to disproportional sampling of updrafts and downdrafts.
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Seibert, P., Langer, M. Deriving characteristic parameters of the convective boundary layer from sodar measurements of the vertical velocity variance. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 81, 11–22 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00119396
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00119396